What A Wonderful World
by LarielRomeniel
Summary: "You need to be out of the house in the next half hour." Why is Sara kicking Len out? More shameless tooth-rotting fluff from "The Waiting Room."


AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fic was partly inspired by a photo posted by Caity Lotz of herself and her niece.

* * *

Sara's voice sounded worried over the phone. _"Len, drop whatever you're doing and pack a bag for yourself and Mickey. You need to be out of the house in the next half hour."_

Len raised his eyebrows in surprise, rising from the kitchen table where he'd been showing Mickey how to write his name. "Keep practicing, buddy," he said before moving into the living room and asking quietly, "Who's after us?"

" _I wish it was that easy!"_ Sara answered with a chuckle. _"Laurel's flu turned out to be chicken pox."_

"Wait a minute. Didn't she just get a shot for that?" Leonard protested.

" _Yeah, she did."_ Leonard could picture Sara's irritated scowl. _"But the pediatrician says a very small percentage of kids actually get the disease from the vaccine, and of course our kid had to be in that percentage. And since_ you _never had the chicken pox…"_

"You're kicking me out," Leonard finished, already headed up the stairs.

" _Da—"_ Sara stopped herself from swearing in front of Laurel. "Darn _right. It's dangerous for adults, and I'm not taking any chances."_

"Mickey was vaccinated. Why are you kicking him out too?"

" _If Laurel is anything like my mom says I was when I had the chicken pox, I'm gonna have my hands full just with her. Better if Mickey stays with you."_

Not that Leonard doubted Sara could handle this, but… "We could always just call the Waverider back."

" _They've got more important things to do than making house calls for run-of-the-mill childhood diseases, and you know it,"_ Sara chided. _"We've got this."_

"I suppose you're right."

" _You know I am."_ Smugly.

He chuckled as he pulled two bags from the hall closet. "All right. Guess we'll go over to the safe house on Pinewood."

" _You're not going into hiding, Leonard! Let's not use the safe house when we don't really need to."_

She had a point; using that resource increased its chance of being discovered. Most of their friends and family lived in small apartments, and he wasn't going to impose on Barry with Iris so close to her due date, so… "Hotel, then?"

" _Actually, Joe is expecting you."_

He halted in surprise. "Joe _West?_ "

" _Yeah. Iris told me he's been feeling a bit lonely in that house since Wally moved out, and he keeps going to the loft and driving her crazy. So I gave him a call and he practically jumped through the phone."_

Len snorted and shook his head. "He must be in bad shape if he's excited to have _me_ under his roof!"

" _Don't flatter yourself. He just wants Mickey, but I told him you guys were a package deal,"_ Sara told him teasingly.

"Ouch!"

She chuckled again. _"And Len? As long as you're there, see if you can steal Joe's super-secret noodle recipe."_

* * *

Sara sounded just a bit frazzled when he called her later from Wally's old bedroom. "You can kick the asses of time pirates, biker gangs and an immortal warlord but you're taken down by a sick toddler?" he teased.

" _You're letting our son hear you talk like that?"_

"Our son is downstairs playing checkers with Joe," he said with a smile. Then, in a softer tone, he asked, "How are you holding up?"

" _See for yourself. I'm switching this to FaceTime. Watch your language."_

He chuckled as he pulled the phone from his ear to look at the screen, and smiled at the image of Laurel lying in bed, Sara stretched out behind her. "Hey, there."

Laurel was on her stomach, her head turned toward the phone. Strands of her pale hair fell across her flushed face, and her eyes were glazed. _"Daddy, I got the chicky pox."_

"I know, sweetheart. Do what Mommy says and you'll get better quick."

" _Mommy says I should take a nap."_

"I think Mommy is right." Sara's lips twitched in a smile at that.

" _Don't wanna take a nap."_

"Those sleepy eyes tell me you really need one, though. When I come home I want to see bright eyes again, okay?"

" _Want you to come home now!"_

"The sooner you take a nap the sooner you'll get better, and the sooner your brother and I can come home."

Laurel pouted at that, an expression so adorable he pressed a kiss to his fingertips and then pressed them to her image on the screen. "There. A long-distance kiss."

She giggled and picked up Sara's phone, pulling it toward her face. _"Kiss for you too, Daddy."_

Len chuckled at the smudge she left on the screen. "Thank you, Laurel. Now will you go to sleep?"

" _Sing to me, Daddy."_

That was already one of her favorite delaying tactics, but he was ready for it. "I'll make you a deal. Close your eyes and I'll sing you something that makes me think of you."

Obediently, Laurel closed her eyes. Len exchanged a smirk with Sara, then began to sing softly.

" _I see trees of green, red roses too  
I see them bloom for me and you  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world."_

Laurel shifted slightly, her hand creeping up to her mouth so she could suck on her middle two fingers.

" _I see skies of blue and clouds of white  
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world."_

Sara reached out a gentle hand to rub soft circles on Laurel's back.

" _The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky  
Are also on the faces of people going by  
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do  
They're really saying I love you."_

Quietly, Sara joined him for the last verses.

" _I hear babies crying, I watch them grow  
They'll learn much more than I'll never know  
And I think to myself what a wonderful world  
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world."_

Sleep finally won Laurel over, her rosebud mouth falling open to let her fingers slide out and rest against the sheets. Sara mouthed the words _thank you_ to him as she stroked their daughter's hair. He mouthed the words _I love you_ back to her.

He watched Sara smile and close her own eyes, nestling against her pillow. With a smile of his own, he ended the call.

* * *

A week later, Laurel was free of the chicken pox, Mickey was the undisputed checkers champion in the family, and Len had… _acquired_ … the coveted secret noodle recipe that Joe hadn't even shared with his own daughter.

And the STAR Labs family expanded, not just by one… but by two.

Len couldn't resist smirking when he and Sara visited the new arrivals at the WestAllen loft.

Bearing a Pyrex dish of Grandma Esther's famous noodles.

* * *

ADDITIONAL AUTHOR'S NOTE: The rest of the inspiration for this fic came from my own experience; I'm the one who was evicted for a week due to vaccine-induced chicken pox!

And yeah, I love the idea of Wentworth singing!

Lyrics to "What A Wonderful World" written by Bob Thiele. The seminal version of this was recorded by the late great Louis Armstrong (and at some point I intend to use him in a fic).


End file.
